Did the Sahabah perform Qiyas

 [In the previous part, we talked about Qiyas and in this part, let  us see some concrete examples of how the Sahabah performed and used Qiyas and how the other Sahabah took it.]

 

Qiyas of Hadhrat Aisha Siddiqua (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with her):

 

 

There is a Hadith in Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 3646.

 

The summary of this Hadith is that the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) had permitted Hadhrat Aisha Siddiqua (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with her) to appear before the brother of the husband of the lady who had suckled her as a child.  On this, she deduced the paternal relationships, which are forbidden for marriage, are also forbidden in a suckling relationship. 

 

 

Qiyas of Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him):

 

 

Again, there is a Hadith in Sahih Bukhari, Hadith No. 7285 and Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 133.

 

The summary of the Hadith is that after the passing away of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), there was a great upheaval.  Some tribes of Arabia became apostates and some, though did not become apostate, but refused to pay Zakaat.  After fighting against the apostates, Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) decided to fight against these tribes who had refused Zakaat as well.  Hadhrat Umar (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) said:  How can you fight against them?  They still recite the Kalima (adhere to the belief of monotheism and Islam).  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  Whoever recites the Kalima has saved his life and property from me.  That person's real beliefs are the affair of the Lord.

 

Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) said:  I will definitely fight against those who differentiate between Salaat and Zakaat, as Zakaat is a monetary right (owed to Allah Ta'ala).  By the Lord!  If they don’t give even a strand of rope that they used to give in the time of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), I will definitely fight against them.  Hadhrat Umar (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) was convinced on listening to this and said that he was enlightened about this.  He said that:  I understood that whatever Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) had said was the truth.

 

Now consider that the Hadith which Hadhrat Umar (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) quoted was known to both of them, but the deduction of Hadhrat Abu Bakr (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) was that even though they recite the Kalima, they ought to be killed, because they differentiate between Salaat and Zakaat, although both are the commands of Allah Ta'ala.  This was accepted that if a people abandoned Salaat, Jihad would be performed against them, so why should Jihad not be performed against those who refuse to pay Zakaat?

 

Thus, Hadhrat Umar (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) was silenced by Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq's (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) deduction on Zakaat based on Salaat because Hadhrat Umar (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) knew that the deduction of a jurist is worthy of consideration and ought to be followed in the Shariah.  That is why he accepted it right in the middle of the debate.  He never said that I am presenting canonical evidence, which is known to you as well that a person who recites the Kalima cannot be killed for nonpayment of Zakaat.  You are presenting your own deduction, which is proved wrong because, "the first one to perform deduction is Iblees."

 

Now look at the effect of this deduction that Muslims' blood was spilled, but no Sahabi objected to it.  This means that there was consensus among the Sahabah that Qiyas is an established proof/evidence in religion.  If it were not so, then in that age, when Islam was progressing and each and every Muslim was filled with fervor and enthusiasm of Islam, this deduction 'against' the Hadith would have been accepted. 

 

It is written in Tahzeeb Ut Tahzeeb from the Tarikh of Imam Bukhari that once Hadhrat Umar was sitting and many Muhajireeen (the Sahabah who migrated from Makkah to Madina) and Ansar (natives of Madina) were sitting around him.  Hadhrat Umar (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) asked them:  If I am lax in something, what will you do?  They said:  We will straighten you out like we straighten an arrow.  On this, Hadhrat Umar (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) said:  Then, you will be you i.e. then you will be considered Sahaba when you are like this.

 

 

Qiyas of Hadhrat Umar (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him):

 

 

With the demise of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) itself, the Ansar told the Muhajireen:  Now there will be 1 leader from you and 1 from us.  On this, Hadhrat Umar (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) said:  Do you not know that the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) ordered Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) to lead the people (in Salaat?  Now tell me whose self can bear it that they place themselves before Hadhrat Abu Bakr (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him)?  The Ansar said:  May Allah protect us!  We can never surpass Abu Bakr.  (Musnad Imam Ahmad, Hadith No. 135)

 

Just see that even in these trying times, Hadhrat Umar (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) used a deduction that the way Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) is the foremost for Imamate in Salaat, in the same way, he should be foremost in caliphate.  The Ansar could not deny this deduction that we accept him as imam in Salaat, but we object to his being the caliph, which is about the lives and wealth of all Muslims and about governance and propagation of Islam.  Now look at the blessings of Qiyas that such a great issue in which millions of lives are wasted was decided with such ease.

 

 

Qiyas of Hadhrat Uthman (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him):

 

 

Hadhrat Abdullah bin Abbas (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) asked Hadhrat Uthman (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) that why did he place Surah Anfaal, which is short, next to Surah Tauba.  He said that various Surah would be revealed to the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and He (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) would say that write down these verses in the Surah in which so and so matter is mentioned.  Surah Anfaal was revealed in the early Madinite period and Surah Tauba at the end of the Holy Quran and He (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) did not say anything about these.  They talk about similar things, so I placed next to each other and did not put "Bismillah" between them.

 

See, Hadhrat Uthman used Qiyas even in the ordering of the Holy Quran.

 

 

Qiyas of Hadhrat Ali (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him):

 

 

Hadhrat Ali (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) says:  When my father passed away, I came to the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and said:  Your old uncle has died.  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  Bury him and come to me without doing anything else.  I did the same.  Then He (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  Go, bathe and come to me straightaway and don’t do anything else.  When I came after bathing, the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) after bathing, He (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) made such supplications for me that even if I get red and black camels, I would not get such happiness.

 

The narrator says that it was the practice of Hadhrat Ali (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with him) that after any funeral-bath, he also would take a bath.  See, the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) did not tell Hadhrat Ali or other Sahabah (May Allah Ta'ala be well pleased with them) that giving a funeral-bath also entails a bath, but deducing this from the especial command of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), he would take a bath after a funeral-bath.

 

Excerpted from the writings of Hadhrat Shaykh Ul Islam Imam Muhammad Anwarullah Farooqui (May Allah sanctify his secret)